


Childhood Ghosts

by Gay_as_fuck



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Angst, Gen, Puzzles, heavy handed symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 15:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8332438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gay_as_fuck/pseuds/Gay_as_fuck
Summary: It's nice to spend time with someone else who understands and has the same ghost.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been trying to write this for a week and i pounded this out cause i'm sick as fuck and home rn.

It’s a strange thing losing someone. To Yvonne it seemed like some twisted puzzle. She liked puzzles because she could solve them. There was always an answer to a puzzle, and she could always find them. All she had to do was put the pieces together. Weather they were word problems or physical puzzles she was always the best.

There had been an attempt at a contest when they were younger. Xavier, Trevor, Shauna, and Tierno had all tried to create a problem that would stump her. Be it math, logic, wordplay, or just full of red herring she could solve everyone. They called her the best puzzle solver in the world, but they had been ten and their problems had been rather easy to solve. 

The problem with Xavier was that Yvonne couldn’t figure out why he had locked himself away. She knew all the reason, had all the pieces be couldn’t figure out how they made the answer. He was stressed from all the reporters but why was that enough reason to lock himself away from his friends and his family.

She never did solve that puzzle, but kept trying. She would visit him every day at first, than every week. It got hard to think of him, because she felt anger and sadness all at once. She didn’t know how to deal with emotions, she was one for actions and logic. She stopped trying to talk to him after a while. She ended up just visiting with his mother.

They didn’t talk about Xavier much, it hurt to much to talk of him. He was alive and yet somehow managed to still be their ghost. Xavier’s mother would simply talk with Yvonne about her day, how school was going, and anything the girl was willing to ramble on about. It was nice having someone who understood, even if they didn’t say anything.

Yvonne knocked on the door to her old friend’s house. She waited for a minute until Xavier’s mother opened the door with a half hearted smile and welcomed her in. Yvonne moved the the couch and dumped her backpack on the floor next to her. Xavier’s mother moved to the kitchen to make some tea as she usually did.

“How are you dear?” Xavier’s mother asked softly. 

“Alright, mostly the same old stuff” Yvonne replied as she picked up one of the never changing magazines on the coffee table. She knew most of the articles well from reading them so many times, however she still picked up one of them and read. 

The article she picked was one on expeditions to the bottom of the sea, interesting information but slightly outdated. It referenced an expedition that had already happened, but that didn’t bother Yvonne. 

As she skimmed the article Xavier’s mother came back over with a tray. On it was a teapot, cups, sugar cubes, and creamer. Yvonne began to pour her tea without saying much more than a thank you.  
It was always the same tea, lavender with a hint of mint and just a dash of honey. Yvonne was always fond of grey tea but she didn’t mind what the older woman had made. It was sweet, but always made her sad. Being in the house made her sad, but it was a good kind of pain. The kind that made one know they stilled cared for something. After a few sips of tea Yvonne started to speak.

“What do you want to do?” 

“I’m not sure. I’ve been cleaning out the basement a little and found a puzzle i didn’t even know i had. We could construct that if you wanted to” the offered.

Yvonne had completed almost every puzzle in that house at least twice and the thought of a new one gave her a twinge of excitement. She took a sip of her tea and replied. 

“Sure, what is it of?” 

“One of the Sinnoh Lake fronts but i can’t remember which.” She put down her cup of tea and stood up. Yvonne did the same, following after Xavier’s mother as the older woman walked to the back of the kitchen where there was a door to the basement. The elder opened it and began to descend partway down the stairs as Yvonne hovered by the door.

“Here it is”, Xavier’s mother said and put a small cardboard box under her arm. She walked back up the stairs and closed the door behind her. The two moved back over towards the couch and coffee table.

The two sat down and the box was put on the table between them. It was dusty and Yvonne assumed that it had a yellowish tint to it with the water on the cover being a tint of green instead of sparkling blue.

“Verity", the older woman said to herself. Yvonne shot a confused glance at the woman who gave a somewhat flustered reply.

“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s what lake this is, Verity. My family used to go there when we were children.” She gave a soft reminiscent smile, as if part of here were still on the shores of that lake. She opened the box and flipped it upside down scattering the pieces all across the table.

“Let’s get to work then”, Yvonne said she she took the top of the box and set it to the side as a reference. The two of them worked together in silence for a long time. Piecing the picture together was a reprieve from thinking of anything but where the pieces had to go.

In the end they had a beautiful picture of the lake front, except for one piece to the center left. They were missing a simple piece that the couldn’t find anywhere. It wasn’t in the box or under the couch. It looked as if the reason that puzzle had been in the basement was that it was missing a piece.

It felt wrong, to have such a beautiful picture that was made imperfect by the loss of one piece. Yvonne almost laughed when she realized something, this puzzle was her life. It made perfect sense, a beautiful old picture that had gotten something lost. Xavier was that missing puzzle piece.

“I think it’s pretty”, the older woman said out of the blue. “Just because it’s missing a part doesn’t make it any less beautiful”. 

Yvonne nodded, it was still the shining shores of lake Verity. Shores which would still be there, even if a piece was gone. 

“I think that’s what makes it beautiful”, Yvonne replied. “It’s strong even without that piece of it”. She was stronger than Xavier, and she decided that if she was ever going to be someone she had to start thinking of the future instead of the past.


End file.
